Easy and Delicious Homemade Aleppo Pepper Chili Crisp on Shishito Peppers

Spicy. Bright. Nutty. Oniony. Crunchy. Peppery. Oh, my oh, my. Chili crisp, how I love you! Bonus: This is made entirely from pantry ingredients, so you don’t even have to pull out your knife and cutting board! And then when you serve it on shishito peppers? Oh, man. It’s a game changer.

Chili crisp is one of those things that you hear people say, “Oh, trust me. Once you make it, you’ll put it on everything!

Now, I’m not a particularly cynical person, but my father always told me, “Never trust anyone who says, ‘trust me.’”

Which meant I was a little like, “Yeah, I’ll take your word for it probably.”

But, then again, I was like that with quick pickled red onions, and where did that get me? Oh, right. Making a jar every week, because we put them on everything.

So, color me not shocked that once I made the chili crisp I didn’t just want to put it on anything in sight, I also kind of daydreamed about it when I couldn’t have it.

(Scene: 3 a.m. in the morning. Jedd and the kittens are sleeping. Launie is laying in bed with a pang of hunger thinking about how great chili crisp would taste on some crackers. But then, she realized that the package was unopened, and sneaking out of bed to open a box of crackers with the crackly inner lining would sound an awful lot like kibble to the snoring felines and wake them from their slumber.

“Hmph. Aarg.”

She rolls over and fluffs her pillow and waits for daylight and vows to have crackers and chili crisp for breakfast, rather than a 3 a.m. snack.)

Why, yes. That anecdote IS based on a true story!

This stuff is really addictive, and I’m not even going to blame it on the itty bitty little amount of MSG that I put in it.

It’s just weirdly magical. Tons of sesame seeds, tons of dried onions, and  Sichuan peppercorns in hot oil create a blanket of flavor for everything from chicken breasts, rice, noodles, raw veggie dippers, blistered shishito peppers, (and of course, crackers.)

Most people use red chili flakes for this, but to me, while it’s delicious, it’s just a little too much. So, I went with Aleppo pepper flakes. They’re fruity and spicy, and they don’t punch you in the nose while you’re not looking.

So, give this a shot! I’m not going to say, “trust me” because well – you know why. But, I solemnly swear on my jar of chili crisp sitting next to me on the table that you’ll love it!

Note: None of us in the house are what you’d describe as “garlic people.” But if you are, add in your desired amount of dried garlic flakes with the onion flakes. I’ll bet you’ll find the combination to be a knockout.